Burkina Faso’s Kabore seeks mandate from legislative poll

Observers hope his win will restore stability after more than a year of upheaval

Burkina Faso awaited the results of parliamentary elections yesterday, with president elect Roch Marc Kabore hoping for strong support for his pledge to bring a “better tomorrow” to the West African country.

Kabore won 53.49 per cent of ballots in Sunday’s presidential poll, sealing victory in the first round of the vote to become the first newly elected leader of the impoverished nation in three decades.

‘We must get to work’

Spectators hope his win will restore stability after more than a year of upheaval that saw longtime leader Blaise Compaore toppled by a popular uprising and his supporters try to stage a coup.

“We must get to work immediately,” 58-year-old Kabore told crowds after the results were released on Tuesday.

“Together we must serve the country,” he said, pledging “to open up opportunities for a better tomorrow”.

Kabore led the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party for over a decade and was seen as Compaore’s likely heir, but fell out with the strongman in 2012 and last year formed his own opposition party.

He expressed his “warm congratulations” to the transitional government that has run the West African country since Compaore was deposed by an uprising last year after trying to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule.

The CDP was barred from fielding a candidate in the presidential poll under a contested law that prevented anybody connected with Compaore’s attempts to cling to power from seeking office.

But the well-entrenched party had several representatives standing in the parliamentary election and could score well under the system of proportional representation.

Kabore’s victory was the largest in three decades with turnout at over 60 per cent, far outstripping Compaore’s reelection results during his long stay in office. His nearest rival Zephirin Diabre scored 29.65 per cent of votes.

The United States hailed Burkina’s election as “a major milestone in the country’s democratic progress”.

AFP Riding a wave of success People celebrate after the victory of Burkina Faso’s newly elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, at the party’s headquarters in Ouagadougou on Tuesday.